Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T19:33:37.417Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Feasibility of Routinely Using Hydrogen Peroxide Vapor to Decontaminate Rooms in a Busy United States Hospital

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Jonathan A. Otter*
Affiliation:
BIOQUELL (UK), Andover, Hampshire, United Kingdom
Matthew Puchowicz
Affiliation:
BIOQUELL, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
David Ryan
Affiliation:
BIOQUELL, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
James A. G. Salkeld
Affiliation:
BIOQUELL, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Timothea A. Cooper
Affiliation:
Hospital of Saint Raphael, New Haven, Connecticut
Nancy L. Havill
Affiliation:
Hospital of Saint Raphael, New Haven, Connecticut
Kathy Tuozzo
Affiliation:
Hospital of Saint Raphael, New Haven, Connecticut
John M. Boyce
Affiliation:
Hospital of Saint Raphael, New Haven, Connecticut Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
*
BIOQUELL (UK), 52 Royce Close, West Portway, Andover, Hampshire, SPIO 3TS, United Kingdom([email protected])

Abstract

During a 22-month period at a 500-bed teaching hospital, 1,565 rooms that had housed patients infected with multidrug-resistant pathogens were decontaminated using hydrogen peroxide vapor. Hydrogen peroxide vapor decontamination required a mean time of 2 hours and 20 minutes, compared with 32 minutes for conventional cleaning. Despite the greater time required for decontamination, hydrogen peroxide vapor decontamination of selected patient rooms is feasible in a busy hospital with a mean occupancy rate of 94%.

Type
Concise Communications
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Mayfield, IL, Leet, T, Miller, J, Mundy, LM. Environmental control to reduce transmission of Clostridium difficile. Clin Infect Dis 2000;31:9951000.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Boyce, JM, Havill, NL, Otter, JA, et al.Impact of hydrogen peroxide vapor room decontamination on Clostridium difficile environmental contamination and transmission in a healthcare Setting. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2008;29:723729.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3.Otter, JA, Cummins, M, Ahmad, F, van Tonder, C, Drabu, YJ. Assessing the biological efficacy and rate of recontamination following hydrogen peroxide vapour decontamination. J Hosp Infect 2007;67:182188.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4.Johnston, MD, Lawson, S, Otter, JA. Evaluation of hydrogen peroxide vapour as a method for the decontamination of surfaces contaminated with Clostridium botulinum spores. J Microbiol Methods 2005;60:403411.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5.French, GL, Otter, LA, Shannon, KP, Adams, NM, Watling, D, Parks, MJ. Tackling contamination of the hospital environment by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA): a comparison between conventional terminal cleaning and hydrogen peroxide vapour decontamination. J Hosp Infect 2004;57:3137.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6.Bates, CJ, Pearse, R. Use of hydrogen peroxide vapour for environmental control during a Serratia outbreak in a neonatal intensive care unit. J Hosp Infect 2005;61:364366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Jeanes, A, Rao, G, Osman, M, Merrick, P. Eradication of persistent environmental MRSA. J Hosp Infect 2005;61:8586.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8.Taneja, N, Biswal, M, Emmanuel, R, Singh, M, Sharma, M. Hydrogen peroxide fogging in an overcrowded tertiary care referral centre: some practical queries. J Hosp Infect 2005;60:85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9.Lawrence, SI, Puzniak, LA, Shadel, BN, Gillespie, KN, Kollef, MH, Mundy, LM. Clostridium difficile in the intensive care unit: epidemiology, costs, and colonization pressure. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2007;28:123130.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
10.Passaretti, CL, Otter, JA, Lipsett, P, et al.Adherence to Hydrogen Peroxide Vapor (HPV) decontamination reduces VRE acquisition in high-risk units. Paper presented at: 48th Annual Meeting of the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy and the Infectious Diseases Society of America. October 10, 2008; Washington, DC (abstract K4124b).Google Scholar